Mango Passion ice cream

Passionate about fruits? Keen to enjoy something delicious and colourful? – Look no further! This yummy combination of lush mango and delectable passion fruit is guaranteed to light up the seasonal darkness.

Of mangoes and passion fruits

I don’t want to overplay the health benefits of ice cream: the “typical” fat and sugar components of most ice creams usually warrants that the  healthiest recommendation remains “enjoy with moderation”. But would it not be nice if your frozen treat also contained some decidedly healthy stuff?

The Mango, an old HIndu symbol for spiritual perfection, is also a very healthy thing to eat. Not only does it contain huge quantities of antioxidants and vitamins A and C, but also a lot of dietary fibres. As we all know, dietary fibre is good for a healthy gut and indigestion so if you are feeling stressed out, mango might be the  fruit for you.

The Passion fruit is also packed with vitamines and dietary fibre. As for the mental solace, some also swear by the calming effects, stating that “a passion fruit a day keeps insomnia away”. It would thus seem that mangoes and passion fruits have quite a lot of good things in common. On top of the healthy aspects, they also share another thing: They are both delicious!  So – let’s combine all this goodness and see how that turns out.

The mango and the passion fruits – ready to join forces!

Start by puréeing the fruits

Cut the mango and remove the fruit flesh: one method is to make cuts like in the photo above, then turn the skin of the fruit outside in and easily remove/cut off the resulting protruding “fruit cubes”.

Put the pieces of mango in a bowl, add the passion fruits and purée everything (using a hand-held mixer or something similar). Set aside for now – we will combine the purée with the (cooled down) custard base  we are about to make!

On keeping the passion fruit seeds or not (short answer: get rid of them!)

They say that good judgement comes from good experience … which in turn often comes from bad judgement. In this spirit, let me spare you some possible pain by sharing what I have learnt on the seed-subject.

Personally, I’m a sucker for visual effects and I don’t mind a certain amount of crunch in ice creams so I left all the passion fruit seeds in (as you also can see in the pictures). Everyone else in my family, however, complained about the half-frozen passion fruit seeds in the ice cream. So, dear reader, take it from me: sieve off the seeds before you add the fruit purée to the rest of the base.  Chances are that most of you will enjoy the ice cream more that way!

Continue by making a rather classic custard base

To give the exotic fruits a nice, tasty and well-rounded frame, I chose a rather classic custard base. Should you have anything against eggs, however, you could certainly use another base (such as the starch-based Sicilian gelato-one, for example).

The custard base can be done in the modern, simplified way: Put the dairy, the sugar and the eggs (as well as the vanilla and salt) in a saucepan, whisk well and – on medium- to low heat – bring the base to the so-called nappe stage: about 82-84º Celsius/180-183 ºF). Use of a thermometer is recommended!

While this recipe also could be adapted to ice cream bases without eggs, I am personally very fond of the plleasant roundness and mouthfeel provided by the custard base. The egg yolks also contribute to the nice consistency of the final ice cream. If you wonder about the specks in the dairy, it is the vanilla exract.

Whisking is important while waiting for the so-called nappe stage: no-one who makes a custard base wants to end up with a residue of scrambled eggs.

Once the right temperature has been achieved, take off from the heat, let cool down a little and then add the mango-passion fruit purée. Once the base has cooled down enough, let it chill for another couple of hours or overnight in the refrigerator before churning.

Yep – removing the passion fruit seeds before mixing the purée with the custard base would have been a very good idea, unless you are a dedicated lover of somewhat crunchy ice cream. Bring out a sieve and spare you loved ones some avoidable pain 😉

 As you probably know, the final ice cream becomes better the shorter time it takes to freeze it/churn it. Which is why it is a good idea to let the base (once it has cooled down) chill in the refrigerator for a couple of hours or more before churning it.

No ice cream machine? Well – let the base chill in your refrigerator, then still-freeze the ice cream using your ordinary kitchen freezer (go to this helpful post for further instructions!).

Even when containing this amount of fruit purée, the custard base (especially if pre-chilled) should churn very well.

Fresh from the churning! The mango passion fruit ice cream is irresistably nice (and while it would have been a good idea to remove the seeds, they are still not as hard-frozen as they will become after spending hours in the freezer …

Exotic goodness to lighten up your day!

I can testify that mango and passion clearly is a superb combination made up in fruit-Heaven. The flavours, nicely melded together in the rich custard setting, turned into an exquisite, sweet and refreshing experience  which certainly ranks very high on my personal frozen pleasure-scale!

Mango Passion fruit ice cream – freshly churned

Mango Passion fruit ice cream – properly frozen

Ps. Sometimes, savouring an ice cream fresh from the churning or tasting it after it has spent a night in the freezer can feel like enjoying two entirely different ice creams. The freshly churned ice cream is typically soft and irresistably lush. The ice cream which has spent further time in the freezer is usually … well, more firm and frozen. The pictures above show the difference. But just like in real life, “different” does not necessarily means “bad”. That certainly goes for this ice  cream too – the more frozen ice cream is firmer, but some of us appreciate that! The overall consistency, thanks to the helpful base, remains nice and scoopable, and you won’t be disappointed! Just remember to avoid my mistake, and sieve off the passion fruit seeds for a perfectly smooth experience!